In Dreams
by Taylor King
Summary: Dreams can express the thoughts of the subconcious....as Stanley finds out MimiStanley


_"Late at night when all the world is sleeping, I stay up and think of you." -Selena ___

_"Stanley? Stanley? Stanley!" ___

_"What do you want?" Stanley didn't bother to roll over, kept his face in the pillow and eyes closed. ___

_"Did you hear that?" ___

_"No." ___

_"What if those men are back?" ___

_"They aren't. Mimi, go back to bed and leave me alone. It's the middle of the night." ___

_"Can I stay with you?" ___

_"What?" This request was impossible to ignore and Stanley rolled over and sat up. He could have understood this from Bonnie, but something about this scenario didn't seem right. ___

_"I mean it," Mimi was still in the doorway, the blanket pulled tight around her. ___

_"Here, all right, fine, take my bed." He started to get up, pushing the blanket back. ___

_"No, that's not it." She left the doorway and crossed the room to the bed. Softly, she sat down beside him and let the blanket slid off of her shoulders. The moonlight glistened off of her skin. ___

_"Aren't you cold?" Stanley studying the white tank top she was wearing, trying to ignore the thoughts that were suddenly racing through his head. ___

_"For the moment," she leaned into him and he could smell recently applied perfume. "I thought maybe you could change that." And then she was kissing him, her lips against his and then instead of bells ringing, a rooster was crowing. _  
A rooster was crowing?

Stanley's eyes flew open and he turned away from sunlight that indicated it was much later than he should have slept. He rubbed his eyes and the realization set in-this was the fifth time this week he'd dreamed about her.

Sitting up, Stanley scowled and grasped his sheets in one hand. This was insane. You don't dream about women who show up to make your life more difficult and take everything you valued-at least not like that. Someone knocked on the door. A pang of horror shoot through him that it might be his dreams coming true-and what scared him more was that somehow he wasn't sure he didn't want them to. The door inched open and he caught a glimpse of Bonnie's face in the door frame. He motioned her in.

"Are you ok?" She signed. He nodded, irritably.

"I'm having trouble sleeping, that's all." Bonnie nodded and left, closing the door behind her. Stanley got up, dressed and started towards the stairs. He made sure to move to the other side of the hallway to avoid Mimi's closed bedroom door. She'd be asleep for a while, which was good, and then hopefully she'd stay inside while he was outside and then do whatever it was she did outside while he was in town. That would keep their interaction to somewhere around two waking hours-tops. 

Stanley went about his chores-cows, chickens, goats, sheep. He was completely unfocused on the activities. This was just getting embarrassing. Maybe they were spending too much time together, maybe she should move out, maybe-. Maybe he was falling for her. That was one Stanley Richmond had no interest in admitting to. Ok, so Mimi was attractive, and smart, and self sufficient and-. He really didn't need to make a list of all Mimi's good points, because unfortunately he could come up with a long list of them. On the other hand, the world had changed since their initial meeting, so maybe it didn't matter how things were before, it only mattered how they were now. The government was gone, the IRS was gone, so that really only left the two of them as individuals and if they could get along as friends, maybe, just maybe-.

Maybe he should stop thinking about this and get on with his work. It was bad enough he'd been sleeping poorly since the dreams started and that meant he'd been staying in bed later and later and therefore less and less was getting done. Right now, Stanley had a plan to rig up the kitchen sink to a pump that would keep the way flowing, at least there. Maybe if that one worked, he'd be able to get a decent field system in place and maybe keep the whole house operating. As he was crossing the yard to the kitchen door, he caught a glimpse of Mimi's figure leaving the kitchen for the stairs. Ok, time for Plan B. Grabbing his keys out of his pocket, he headed for the truck he'd stocked with his latest shipment of vegetables for the supermarket. Actually, he'd stocked the truck before hand to save time, but it was a good plan for avoiding Mimi too. Stanley started the truck and backed out of the driveway.

Maybe he could drag out his town visit all night. Stanley wondered how long it would be before Mimi noticed that he avoided her all day and disappeared as soon as she entered a room at night. Before the dreams had started, they were getting along well. He wouldn't exactly consider them friends, but they were at least civil to each other. Now, every time he saw her, his heart sped up and his palms went sweaty. It was like being a teenager again.

Stanly twisted his hands around the steering wheel. Ok, you do not like the IRS Agent. You do not like her. You are not falling for her. You're being nice to her because it's the right thing to do, because her entire life was destroyed, because she has no where else to go and because you feel bad for her. Nothing more, that's it.

Stanley pulled into a parking spot in front of the market and paused to clear his head. He'd never been into drugs, and he'd been drunk his fair share of times, but this was much, much worse. He got out of the truck and took a basket of potatoes out of the bed. Maybe he wasn't really falling for anyone, maybe stress had finally taken its toll on him. Lack of sleep was causing him to overreact and over think. What he needed to do was take some time and calm himself down. Maybe if he just got some peace and quiet, he'd be back to his normal self and be able to sleep through the night.

"Stanley!" Stanley looked up to see Jake standing in front of him. From Jake's started expression, it was obvious the two had almost collided. 

"Oh, Jake, man, I'm sorry." He set the basket down on the ground and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, are you ok? You look like hell." Jake asked. Stanley rolled his eyes.

"Thanks. Do you have a second?"

"Yeah, sure, what's up?" Stanley put the basket back into the truck and the two started down the sidewalk.

"I've got a problem." Jake snorted.

"You and everyone else in town."

"No, mine's worse than the whole nuclear explosion deal." Stanley replied grimly. Jake glanced at him.

"Do tell."

"Everyone else in town didn't get stuck with the IRS." Jake laughed. 

"Mimi's not so bad."

"_I know_." Stanley growled, looking meaningfully at his friend. To his surprise, Jake kept laughing.

"So you're finally admitting it?"

"What?" 

"You're finally admitting it."

"Admitting what?"

"That you and she have a thing."

"A thing? No, there's no-. Hey wait a second, how did you know what I was talking about?"

"Buddy, the whole _town_ knows. It's been obvious for weeks now."

"What? Since when?" Jake knew from Stanley's expression this was just now occurring to him.

"Are you just now coming around to this? Stanley, come on, you two are practically inseparable, she moves in with you, you're buying her drinks, and you really didn't see the connection?"

"No, I didn't see the connection! Why am I the last one to know about this?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, man, the next time there's a nuclear attack and you start showing amazing chemistry with a beautiful out-of-towner, I'll make sure you're the first to know." Stanley groaned. "Did you talk to her?"

"Of course not!" Stanley looked horrified. "How do you bring this up to someone like her?"

"Well, then, good news: you're not the last to know." Stanley glared at him.

"You know, I'm really not laughing about this."

"Stanley, I don't understand what the big deal is. You're not the first man in this world to like a girl who's different from him."

"Jake," Stanley stopped and faced him, "As much as I can't stand to admit this: I'm falling for her. I can't sleep, I can't think, it's like she's eating me alive. At night, I dream about her, I wake up and I'm more exhausted then when I fell asleep. I'm sleeping late, the work at the farm is going down hill; what do I do?" 

"Talk to her." Jake crossed his arms and nodded affirmatively. "Get it out in the open. At worst, she leaves. And then you've got her out of your house so you don't have to look at her all the time. And at best, she stays."

"Those both sound equally bad." Stanley sighed. "I don't know what to do."

"All I can tell you is to talk to her, clear the air and see what happens. Stanley, come on, life's too short. What have you got to lose?"   
"Nothing," Stanley sighed. "Thanks."

"I was on my way to city hall, want to join?"

"No, thanks. I'm going to drop the stuff off at Gracie's then I'm going to go home and see if I can't get some sleep."

"And talk to Mimi."

"Maybe tonight."

"Today, Stanley."

"Maybe tomorrow, or next Thursday, or sometime in January." Jake rolled his eyes.

"I tried." He patted Stanley's shoulder and went off down the street. 

_"By now she's got me pretty tied up __  
__Tied down, any way I choose __  
__I got nothin' to lose"-Josh Gracin _

_"Why are you avoiding me?" ___

_"Me? Avoiding you? I don't know what you mean." Mimi pouted. ___

_"Every time you see me, you go in the opposite direction. Stanley, I know we aren't close, but really." She leaned forward, resting her fingers on his thigh. "What's the matter?" ___

_"N-nothing?" ___

_"Nothing?" She leaned closer, and there was the sent of perfume and shampoo; her hair was drifting across her face and he flexed his fingers to keep from pushing it back. "I don't believe you." ___

_"I mean it, there's nothing, I mean, why would I say there was nothing wrong if there was?" ___

_"You tell me." She smiled. Stanley felt sweat on his forehead. Mimi laid her hand on his cheek. It was warm and soft and comforting. "I thought you wanted to talk to me." ___

_"I did, but I-I can't remember what I was going to say." ___

_"Too bad." She leaned in and kissed him. "Oh, Stanley…._Stanley? Stanley!"

"What?!" Stanley jerked awake and his face paled to see Mimi standing in front of him. He'd been so exhausted when he got home from town he'd passed out in an arm chair in the living room-and then those damn dreams again. He blinked, trying to regain some of his composer. "What do you want?" Mimi was looking at him strangely.

"Since when have you taken a nap in the middle of the afternoon?"

"Since when have you started waking me up?" Since you started dreaming about her a week ago, idiot. Mimi threw her hands up and shrugged. 

"Well I'm sorry, Stanley, I thought maybe you were sick."

"Oh yeah, and waking up a sick person is always the right thing to do." Stanley got up and picked up his keys from the end table.  
"Where are you going?"

"To town."

"You just came back from town."

"Well, now I'm going back."

"I'll come with you."

"No, you won't." Stanley started for the front door.

"Stanley, what's the matter with you? Have you lost your mind?"

"You know what, I think I have." The screen door slammed shut behind him


End file.
